


In The End

by iopeneditbeforechristmas



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-22 19:19:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4847261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iopeneditbeforechristmas/pseuds/iopeneditbeforechristmas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bloodstained crests and death and Hange's smile; that's the mark of victory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The End

They don’t see each other for a while after it ends. Why would they? Humanity’s glorious victory has come at a cost greater than even Erwin’s bleakest figures anticipated, and there’s too much to do for a celebration; even one between friends who’ve been through too much together. Too many people to mourn, too many to try and save. They’re long past the point of salvation though, and Levi knows it. He’s fully aware of the fact that they’ve probably sacrificed too much for this, knows that a world with most of its able-bodied population dying or bleeding out is one that has a shit chance of getting itself off the ground.

But they’ll endure. They always do.

Levi, in turn, does what he always does; he collects their crests. Most people can’t pinpoint the moment when they first picked up a habit, and Levi’s probably the same in pretty much all the things he does by now, but it’s different for this one. He did it for Farlan and Isabel, because their bodies were so mutilated and too hard to bring back that he’d have no other way of remembering them. Over time it became a habit. He’s got a box back in the sparse office he calls his, safe behind Wall Rose, full to bursting with all the blood-stained wings he’s collected. It’s one of the only things he’d bring with him if there was an emergency.

Levi briefly ruminates over how ironic it’d be if the only time he needed to evacuate his shithole of an office was after the Titans’ defeat. Hange would probably laugh.

He can see her now; her inexhaustible cask of knowledge is coming in useful. They brought medics with them, obviously, and every Survey Corps soldier knows basic first aid, obviously, but even that store of help is being stretched thin. Besides, at this point everyone is so emotionally spent that most uninjured soldiers are slumped on the ground, indistinguishable from their dead comrades.

She sees him and waves. Her mouth is set in a grim line, face caked in gunk and muck and blood - human blood - and he doesn’t think he’d like to see her any other way. She’s been a constant, a fluid and everchanging constant that’s been the one steady thing in all the upheaval of his adult life. It’s a time of change, now, sudden, enormous, terrible change, and there’s pretty much no one Levi wants alive more. Maybe Erwin. But now Erwin’s just another pile of bones, and Hange’s all that’s left.

“Hi,” she says. Her smile is wan and forced, the irritating brightness that seems to perpetually follow her around forced back into the dark.

“Hi,” Levi grunts.

“So. It’s all over. In no small part, of course, to the heroic efforts of the dashing Captain Levi.”

“Shut up.”

“Shy?” Hange teases. Levi glares at her. Shrugs. Doesn’t say anything. She continues, “You really did help a lot though! You took down, what, a hundred Titans? Maybe?”

Levi sighs. She really does have a sharp mind behind all the idiocy. Not just intelligence and inspiration, but a brain that’s honed like a knife. Hange knows exactly how many Titans he took down. That’s more than he does, anyway; he lost track after a while. His kill count is not exactly something he’s all that interested in.

“Hmph,” he grunts. “The young kids did more.”

Hange laughs. “Maybe. It’s just as well. Also pretty useful they’re not dead, considering that we’re not going to be around much longer.”

“We’re not ancient.”

“No. I didn’t really mean it like that, anyway.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I mean, you’re not really going to stay here, are you?”

“Where else would I go?”

“Outside the walls? There’s a whole other world out there, you know. It’d be a bit of a shame if you came all this far and didn’t even see it. I know for a fact the kids are going.”

“In that case I’d better stay. Can’t leave this shithole to the MPs.”

“Oh, they’ll be back. They’ve been pretty reliable this far, I think we can probably leave it to them now.”

“Yeah. You know, maybe I’ll join you. Tastes like shit inside these walls anyway.”

Hange cracks a grin, a real, genuine grin that looks out of place amongst all the death surrounding them.

“Well then. Humanity will have to get by without its dashing Captain Levi.”

“I’m sure they’ll survive.”

“Well. Fingers crossed. I’m not sure, but I think there are probably still nobles eating their own shit under Wall Sina.”


End file.
